Abstract: At approximately 2:08 p.m. on June 13, 1997, Employee #1 and a coworker, water department workers, removed the manhole cover to an 8 ft deep meter pit to confirm the size of the water main. Employee #1 entered the pit by descending a set of ladder rungs along its side. Once his head was below the ground surface, he called out the size of the main to the coworker, who remained outside the pit. The coworker stated that Employee #1 then immediately collapsed and fell to the bottom of the pit. He was removed by the coworker and other employees by means of a rope looped around the his foot. Attempts to revive Employee # 1 were unsuccessful; he died of asphyxia. Meter readings taken at a later time indicated 12.8 percent oxygen in the pit.